Doctor Who Series 8 (AU): Chance by Fate
by ClockworkKnight
Summary: The newly-regenerated 12th Doctor, Clara Oswald, the Paternoster Gang, and new companion Jake Summers race against time to find out if Jack the Ripper has truly returned from the grave following a new spree of murders. Takes place after "The Time of the Doctor." A new weekly chapter take on Series 8! Reviews/favorites appreciated! Rated M for language.
1. Prologue - Last Time

Author's note:

_Hello everyone that reads this note! Please enjoy the story. I will appreciate reviews and favorites, as they are my motivational drive including my imagination. Note that this is an Alternate Universe, so if you don't know what this means, I'll repeat it from my bio:_

_An alternate universe is a theory in which there is a universe that is the same as ours, with much of history still intact, but with a minor tweak and difference that branch off a whole NEW series of events from there. I said earlier in my bio, think of parallel lines, but one line is ours and the other's an alternate. Same universe, same events, but what would happen if one event didn't go as history thought it would in that? The infinite possibilities, you see? _

_My series 8 is not like the one from BBC that will air in August. Sure, it has the Twelfth Doctor and Clara and Danny who will be introduced later that will be nearly the same, but my major what if was: What if _another _companion joined in on Twelve's beginnings? This is Doctor Who, Series 8 AU, Episode 1: Chance by Fate, a new take on Series 8! No copyright intended, just for fanfiction purposes! Chapters will be posted now temporarily on the weekends._

_-UPDATE LOG 7/11/14-_

_Made some slight updates on the chapters so far that are up, just some expanding of the chapters more to make it "feel" like a chapter and not "some five paragraphs and then I'm done" kinda deal._

* * *

_Please don't change._

The last three words Clara Oswald told the Doctor before he... well, _changed_ right before her in a flash of light. Though his body didn't change much, his face did. Gone was the flipped black hair, kind and slightly eccentric face, and now in place stood a striking and wrinkled face. His eyes seemed baggy but what made this face striking were the faded green eyes that made him look like a hawk. The man stood before Clara confused and stared right at her. He approached her slowly, neither one blinking at each other. Both individuals were about to say something from their lips before the Doctor jumped back and hugged his stomach.

"KIDNEYS!" The man exclaimed, recovering. "I've got new kidneys! I don't like the color." He later added, looking as though he lost some weight.

"Of your kidneys?..." Clara said perplexed.

The TARDIS lurched to one side throwing the two towards the console. "Wh-what's happening?!" Clara asked frantically, holding on to the edge of the console. "We're probably crashing," He responded quickly. "Into what!?" Clara shrieked, clinging on to dear life looking to the only other individual for help. He climbed back up and started to pull some switches and press buttons. "Stay calm!" He responded, his voice now changed to Scottish. "Just one question." He said in a confused, panicked voice:

"Do you happen to know how to fly this thing!?"

And Clara Oswald left her jaw hanging as the TARDIS plummeted down to Earth.

* * *

-DOCTOR WHO THEME KICKS IN-

(Title: CHANCE BY FATE)

* * *

"Who... Who are you?" Clara Oswald's voice rose up in a fiery temper. The old man was in the Doctor's clothes. _Her_ Doctor's clothes. The thigh-length coat, boots, black pants, vest and dress shirt. "Clara, now's not the time to be asking luv. It's me!" The man said fiercely, trying to stop his beloved time machine from killing them both with whatever he could press on the console. "The Doctor." She asked urgently, ignoring his reply. "Where is the Doctor!?"

"IT'S ME CLARA!" The man roared. "I'm the Doctor!"

Clara nearly let herself go from the console and was shocked. "But... But he, you... You said you changed!" She yelled.

"Do I have to remind you what regeneration number this is?!" The Doctor yelled back, frantically searching for a button that would hopefully stop the TARDIS from free fall. He reached underneath the TARDIS and picked up a small object the size of an easter egg. "I knew backups like this would come in handy." He muttered, pressing the top of the object before fainting.

Clara couldn't figure out what was going on before another dazzling light appeared in the room and she fell unconscious.


	2. Chapter 1

_Author's note, updated 7/11/14_

_-Merged chapters 1 and 3 together of Jake's POV. _

* * *

The plane carrying an excited Jake Summers touched down at Heathrow Airport at twelve in the afternoon, and no worries were on his mind when he stepped out of his airport, inhaling the fresh summer air. After finishing his bachelor's in World History and receiving his teaching credentials from UCLA, he decided to spend his life "officially out of school" by starting with a year in London with his aunt Grace, who ran a boarding house for international students attending university there. After switching out his cash to pound, he deparated from the airport and quickly hailed a cab to arrive at Topham Road two hours later. He fumbled the wrinkled paper from his pocket that had her address on it and looked for building 112. Clutching his duffle bag (which was close to ripping apart), he walked down the street to meet his aunt after fourteen years of not seeing her "in a while." It was rather easy to spot, for it was a two-story apartment that was on top of a laundromat that had cheering going on above while everyone trying to fold up clothes were looking incredibly annoyed.

_Must be the World Cup going on_, Jake muttered as he walked to the first floor to the only door on his left. He knocked on the bright red wood three times, and it was opened to reveal a plump woman wearing an apron with frizzled hair. "_Hay nako!_" She said surprisingly. "Jake? Is that you?"

Jake threw his arms wide. "Tita."

"Oh my goodness!" Aunt Grace squeezed him and ruffled his spiked jet black hair before fixing his glasses. "You have grown taller than the last time I saw you! Come in, come in!" She took his bag and quickly hurried inside.

The sitting room was entirely packed, as though Maracanã Stadium was shoved inside a tiny house. University students were yelling to the small television in the corner of the room and had pizza boxes and sodas everywhere. By then, Jake glimpsed to see someone being lifted out of the stadium before everyone started to go to the kitchen for food and discussion.

"The kids are watching Brazil playing against Columbia - and you would not believe what just happened! Neymar got his vertebrae broke just a few minutes before you showed up!" Aunt Grace said excitedly. "It is just absolutely chaotic! In all my time staying here and watching every World Cup, 2014 has got to be an intense year."

"Oi, Miss Summers!" A male's voice called from the kitchen. "Who's that? A new kid?" Everyone turned around to see a young man in his mid-twenties, with ruffled spiky hair and glasses, olive skin, and dressed in a blazer and v-neck with black jeans and boots. The boys were started to get a closer look at Jake, while the girls were giggling. Jake just smiled. "Hi."

"Now now boys and girls! I'm happy to let you know that my nephew Jake has arrived from America." Aunt Grace said in a happy tone. "Please be kind to him as he will be staying here for the following year, and there will be NO pranking. JJ, would you be kind to show him to his room?" She asked to a smiling boy sitting in the kitchen holding a beer. He was black, with a small afro and wore a Brazil team jersey and baggy shorts. "Sure." He smiled cheerfully and both Jake and his new host went out of the sitting room and down the long hallway.

"James Johnson. But people call me JJ. Pleasure to meet you." He said in a crisp Welsh accent as they traversed down. "Jake Summers." They shook hands. "So Jake, what brought you here to Britain?" JJ asked. Jake told him above his graduation from UCLA and was bored for about a week until Grace called him. "I honestly was just on the grip to becoming a couch potato if it weren't for my aunt. Sometimes, even America can get boring from Disneyland and the beaches. So I thought maybe abroad can lift me up before going back and settling down."

They reached the second door on the right that was next to the last. "London's aight. Of course, one would be like you and do the same, but most of us here seem alright with England. It looks small, but everything's big. Not sure if it's the opposite in America for you on why you wanted to come here. Here's your room." JJ twisted the knob and opened to a small bedroom. It was blank and white, but as evening approached it dimmed down. A bed was on one side, and a small desk with a lamp was adjacent next to the closet. The bathroom was small, but it was complete with shower, sink and toilet. JJ asked if there was any thing needed, but all Jake asked in reply was if there were any strips of styrofoam. He was given a small box and as soon as JJ left, Jake immediately and quietly shut the door before heading straight to work. He took tape that was miraculously found from a drawer and taped his door and window with the strips of styrofoam. He unpacked his clothes to the closet, and turned on his laptop and recording equipment on the desk.

Finding jobs in this generation of society nowadays were extremely difficult. What people majored in was nothing on the matter, more of the first come, first serve basis. But the Internet services were in need of many, so Jake in his spare time makes YouTube videos to make some cash while working on his teaching credentials as a gamer and video blogger. His blogs focused more on the paranormal findings, which jumpstarted his interest into World History after graduating from high school. He found a number of artifacts in his travels, and noticed that aliens had been Earth for a time.

It all happened in 2006. The Sycorax were headlining all the publications around the world, and then came the following year the fighting at Canary Wharf from what Jake found to be alien tanks versus Terminator robots. Fast forward to 2009, the tanks returned, wreaking havoc across the world as Earth became part of the "Twenty-Seven" hostage crisis when twenty-six other planets were spotted across the sky for the night, with two earthquakes before and after (Jake hid in his dorm room and watched some students die outside when the "Daleks" arrived). In 2013 alien activity had increased tremendously when Jake saw millions of black cubes appear out of nowhere and becoming commonplace items before they attacked everyone in the library when he studied for his final exams. Later that year the Internet was hacked by an anonymous source who in news reports found that people had their souls stolen and trapped in a small screen.

As Jake rummaged through over libraries of NASA and the other space agencies he found from sources (private deals in which Jake was paid and given clearance to publish their content through him), he listed the number of numerous reports made of an rogue unidentified object that would fly past their sensors, but all they could form in the satellite pictures was a small blue box. That, and coupled with images of blue boxes, always pointed to a man that would step out of a battered police call box. A police box that would appear out of nowhere. But the main epicenter according to his evidence board pointed down to two roots.

London.

And the Doctor, as what the satellite images identified him as. A time traveler from what he found from "UNIT." Leaked information from some archive thanks to some old "Torchwood" employees states the first time the Doctor "actually appeared" was in 1963, but has been seen on Earth a long time. In and out of time on separate places and years, and that's because there have been multiple versions of the Doctor. Different faces, ranging from old to young but all the while still assuming his persona according to the archive.

He took out a sheaf of paper in his bag's pockets and read through the list. Addresses of people who in the satellite data banks have been archiving had been an accomplice of the Doctor.

_I'll start later tonight_, Jake told himself.

Right now, he had to get used to London, maybe a drink down at the local pub will do before the hunt began for information. He got out from his chair and proceeded to the door. Taking one breath, he opened the door to find himself tripping over a racquet and football that led the way to a sitting room. He found himself in front of three women, and a dwarfish man tending over a patient and all three turned around to face him.

Jake looked very confused and saw the wormhole behind him close.

"Am I in Narnia?" He wondered. No wait, Narnia wasn't full of people dressed in Victoria-era clothing.

The last thing he remembered before seeing the dwarf fly and tackle him was Handel's Hallelujah, one woman who was veiled trying to catch him, and a prettier woman in dark green who looked shocked by his arrival.

* * *

Jake woke up in a room that had a single light bulb floating from the ceiling. Aside from his little circle of light he was in, it was completely dark. He was bound to a chair, and found his legs and hands cuffed. A door creaks open and Jake saw three figures making their way toward him. They stepped into the light and revealed themselves. Jake immediately recognized them as the three woman he saw before being mauled by what Jake codenamed Humpty Dumpty. The woman on the left was dressed like a reenactment of what French maids were, but French maids didn't carry spiked clubs. The woman in center was completely dressed in black from her dress to veil, and carried a jar that containing a weird-looking worm. Finally to the right stood a woman dressed in dark green, with brunette wavy hair and wide eyes. She carried nothing in her hands.

"You are given three choices of interrogation." A voice spoke from the veiled lady. _English, that's a relief_. "Either the easy way," her hand showed to the dark green lady. "The hard way," she pointed to the French maid killer. "Or my way." She pointed to the pet worm in the jar.

Jake gulped. The one big chance to finding the Doctor was at stake.

"I'll take the hot chick in green please." His head pointed to the woman on the right. He saw that she immediately had turned red for a moment but fixed herself. The veiled woman whispered something in her ear and her and the French maid with the killer bat left, closing the door quietly.

The woman in green pulled up a chair from nowhere and sat in front of Jake, studying him. "You should have picked the one carrying the worm." She spoke quietly in a clever voice. Jake snorted. "No thanks, I prefer the easy way out than be leeched or beaten up for information."

"Alright then. Let's start things off. What is your name?" She stood up and walked around.

"Jake Summers." said Jake Summers.

"Sure, Jake." The clever woman said lazily. "Real name?"

Jake sighed. He didn't like telling people of his full name, he found that his middle name was embarrassing. "Jacob... Casey Luke Summers. You can check my wallet in my front pocket if you wish." He grinned and the woman went up to him close and searched in his pockets. "Wrong pocket." He smiled, whispering in her ear when inspecting his jeans. "I can show you what I have in THAT one if you want at a later time, though." She turned red again and hastily searched his blazer for a big black lump that she found moments later. "Can you not make this situation any weirder?" She smirked as she looked through his wallet.

"So, you were telling the truth about your identity Mr. Summers. But nice of you to show you have five grand of pounds here. Oh, what's this?" She picked up a photo. "You own a mansion?" She asked quizzically.

"Beach front property would be a more fitting term." Jake said. "Listen ma'am, can we move on from the damn description? You got what you know about me. Unless this isn't some MI6 interrogation, then I must be in the wrong room of a boarding house then."

The woman looked up for a moment. For a moment, Jake saw in her eyes that he was telling the truth all along. "So Jake, what brought you to a sitting room?"

Jake was getting furious. He looked up to where the door opened from and yelled, "Listen, ladies? Can I get one of you with the freak worm to sort out this interrogation already? Ms. Clever here keeps a bad job of keeping a Victorian identity if it weren't for 'weirder.'" _Really, where the fuck am I?!_

The woman turned red and got angry as well as the door opened and what appeared to be the veiled lady was coming. "Oi! I was just getting acquainted with him Vastra." She whined to the lady in black. "Hush Clara, at least we know his identity. Let me do the talking and we'll be done in no time." The green lady, Clara, looked at Jake one last time (who winked at her) grumpily and walked up and out of the interrogation room before closing the door behind her. "I didn't even get to try the one-word test." She said, sniffing away.

"WHAT ONE-WORD TEST?!" Jake roared, attempting to swing his chair.

"Well well Mr. Summers," The veiled lady pulled up a chair and sat in front of him. "It seems as though you overcame the first obstacle of interrogation. I knew bringing in my assistant Clara would be dreadful, she can fall prey easily to men that can easily be manipulative like you. But men fall prey to me." She revealed under cool voice and veil that she was green skinned, scaled, and her head around was crested. "Time for a real investigation to start."

Jake was feeling fear latch onto him. This woman wasn't human! Well, looked like human. "A-a-alright." He shook. "Listen Vaster or whatever your name was. I don't know how I got here. I was out networking for some classified information-"

His lips were shut by a finger from his interrogator. "We'll do things my way Jake. I have a memory worm," she revealed the worm in a jar. "See of it as a being who can detect lies. _As_ we continue this session, I will ask you questions, but you must completely be honest, for again, this worm can detect if you are not telling the truth and overall, must be answered with _one word_. A single lie and one bite from him can have you losing a memory. Do you understand?" She asked.

"Why?" Jake looked bewildered.

"Long excuses are nothing. 'Why' is a good answer to investigations. You ended up in my sitting room, so explain to me _why_ you arrived in my sitting room in London, year 1897."

_What? This isn't 1897, _Jake thought. _How did I end up from an apartment room to a Victorian sitting room? _He quickly realized, if they know the year and noticing the alien worm, he was in a room full of aliens, or maybe time travelers. Could they know about the whereabouts of the Doctor? _Time to play along_. "Wormhole."

"From where, Jake? Your planet? Time? You smell human of course, but in the wrong time period."

"2014." He smiled.

"A man from the year 2014, hmm? What was your last location before arriving here?" The woman asks.

"London."

"Was there a purpose on why you were in London 2014?"

"Information."

"Information on...?"

Jake shook his head to Vastra as means that he didn't mean what he said in his previous word. "Location."

Her face showed interest. "Location of what then, or who?" She asked.

"Doctor."

Her expression became even more fixated on Jake. Both knew they were getting somewhere, if one of them said the next words carefully.

"Doctor who?"

Jake thought of one word, maybe just one. "Doctor." He repeated.

The reptilian looked at the worm, who had grown bored and fell asleep, and slyly smiled at Jake. "Well, the gods are in your favor today, Jake. Fate brought you were here for a reason."

"Jenny! Hand me the knife to release our new friend here. Strax, get a suit you've previously discarded from size issues down ready. You are permitted to speak freely in my household now, Jake." The lady told him. "We'll need you to explain more of yourself later, and feel free to ask any of us questions, but do not commit any strange behavior or you will be having your memory wiped and be beaten by Jenny here." She said as the French maid came back, smiling. "Is there anything you wish before we return upstairs Jake?"

"Who are you?" Jake asks, extremely puzzled. The reptilian and Jenny looked aghast. "Why, Jake!" she replied. "You may call me Vastra, and we're the Doctor's friends."


	3. Chapter 2

_Author's note updated 7/11/14_

_-Merged Clara's POV chapters into one, added more detail to what Jake's interrogation was like to her eyes._

* * *

The dazzling light suddenly grew into what Clara can remember as sunlight. She always knew what sunlight was when she would wake up in her flat feeling refreshed. Coming home from the usual, save-the-world adventure with her Doctor, her magical Doctor-

She jumped up from bed and breathed heavily. It took a while for her eyes to focus, but she found herself in a calm surrounding. Sunlight poured into the four-poster bed from a giant window. Comfy, squashed armchairs dotted around the room with a fireplace already filled with logs. Clara also noticed she was in a nightgown. She quietly climbed out of bed and stretched for a moment before looking out the window. The scenery looked like she was in Blackfriars. Big Ben was a couple blocks away from the Thames, it wasn't that hard to see. "Wait a mo." She mumbled as she looked down. The road was dirt, and carriage and horses trundled in and out. Men in top hats and suits and women in dresses frolicked along the roads. Clara stepped back a little. _Was that all a dream? Where's the Doctor?_

Her bedroom door quietly creaked open and a young woman walked into the room with a tray laden with brunch. She looked no more than the same age as Clara, and looked nimble. She wore a black dress and white apron, had her hair tied to a bun, and was completely pale. She didn't seem to notice Clara standing by the window when he placed her breakfast next to her dresser, humming a tune while preparing everything, and then he turned around.

"Oh! Miss Clara!" She said in a surprised voice. "Please, I apologize for not seeing you by the window, I um... I thought you were..." she stuttered. "I thought you were asleep."

Clara was taken aback first by the intrusion, but she knew this woman's face, was undoubtedly showing kindness. She didn't know how to react to this! "Where am I?" She asked quietly. The woman seemed to be puzzled. "You're in Paternoster Row, Miss Clara, London." He replied strangely. "What is the date?" She continued. "August the twenty-eighth. The year of our Lord, 1897." She said cheerfully.

Clara then froze. "Hold on a mo'!" She said. "Jenny?"

The 1890's were a familiar year for her. Victorian London. The Doctor would occasionally visit periodically, and notable to his friends that were alive at this time - Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, and Strax. She stopped the Crimson Horror from raining down on London, and remembered the time she saved the Doctor from one of her many lives when she stepped into his time stream to prevent the Great Intelligence from destroying history. "Clara!" Jenny's face expressed joy and they hugged. "I can't believe it's you! And I nearly forgot about you cause we didn't hear much from the Doctor after Sweetville." Jenny said, happily.

That brightened Clara. "The Doctor. Where is he?" She needed to know what happened before she woke up. Jenny looked confused. "Er.. Em. Strax is looking over the man who was with you when you two arrived. The TARDIS turned up 'ere in the sitting room at half past five in the morning before Strax went out on his weekly break off to Glasgow. Once you are washed and have gotten dressed, I'll come collect you and we can go downstairs.

"Strax?" Clara asked as she reached the bottom of the stairs fifteen minutes later, Jenny in tow. It was usually in Victorian London that she groomed her hair in a wavy fashion and match the period's fashion at the time, with a dark green dress with boots. The sitting room was converted into a patient's room, with just a bed on one end and all the other furniture separated on the opposite side. The small man who was tending to the Doctor (at least, that's what he identified himself as to Clara before) turned around. His stance was extremely tense and rigid, possibly from the tight suit he wore. He was undeniably bald, but his head was massive, and dome-shaped. He was incredibly wrinkly, but his expression turned into something of a sly smile. "Well well well," he snickered. "The _boy _is awake."

"For the love of God, Strax, it's a girl!" Jenny said, covering her face with her palm. "Please excuse Strax, he gets very confused to guests' genders if he hasn't seen them in a while."

_"_Ah, the _girl _is awake at last then." Strax pretended as though whatever Jenny said did not happen, as well as his greeting to Clara. "Forgive me Mistress Jenny, but after triple-scanning the patient's body, his DNA was most extremely interesting before reaching a possible conclusion. Triple-Helix DNA, or should I say _Time Lord_ DNA. This is the Doctor's! Wait." Strax had a jig at first, but then looked back. "This isn't correct. Gene states this is the Doctor. Physical description does not match according to Sontaran data bank files. Permission to perform autopsy on this impostor? We can lay magnetic gene-splicers!" He asked excitedly.

"Wait, hold on." Clara said, holding Strax's arm carrying his medical scanner. "He said something before we crashed here. Something about 'regeneration?'"

"Then my dear Clara, we cannot upset the current state the Doctor is in right now." A cool female's voice entered the room. She wore entirely black, from her dress to gloves, to the hat that concealed her face with a veil, which was then lifted up. Underneath was a humanoid face resembling a familiar reptilian Clara encountered during her adventure in Sweetville. "Madame Vastra?" She asked. "Dearie me, it's been too long! Come here." They hugged and broke off, Clara being teary-eyed. "Oh you poor soul," Vastra took her to an armchair. "You're just like most of the companions that had to join late before the Doctor... knew that his time was running out. I can assure this is still him." She looked to the man sleeping peacefully on the bed.

"Well what's going on first? I need to know. Maybe we can do-" Clara winced before having her lips shut by Vastra's. "Again, I'm sorry my dear, but you can't disturb the balance of what the Doctor is undergoing right now with his post-regeneration." She told her firmly. "But this is new. Time Lords when they regenerate are renewed to a more younger, healthier form. This man does not match what regeneration descriptions show examples of. Do you know what caused something like this to make the Doctor, well, turn... old?" Vastra asked while she inspected the Doctor.

"Let me think." Clara thought while sipping tea from her brunch tray. "And he's not that old. He said that the Time Lords gave him a new cycle? That was back in the TARDIS from our last adventure here." She then explained the whole fight on Trenzalore, where the Doctor fought in the three-hundred year siege from preventing another Time War. Vastra's expression brightened up. "Oh of course! The Doctor we all know was in his final, younger form. Once he regenerated to his new cycle, it is more of a reset back to a more, older, state. Time Lord science always stated that they born not to live and regenerate back to a baby. That is why so many that die from one cycle are preserved young."

"So you're saying this is still him?" asked Clara, with a speck of hope in her eyes. "Well, that depends." Vastra shrugged. "While regeneration is useful, that means every life the Doctor was in, his DNA is erased, and then re-written. And once he wakes up when his cells are done reprocessing, gods know what will be in store. A new personality, new hobbies, to us we will remember a man who saved the universe all of time itself, but to him, it is nothing more than a man waking up from a long sleep. It will take time for his memories to return while recovering."

The cupboard under the stairs opened with a bang and a handsome man covered from hanging clothes tripped onto the floor. After fixing himself, he appeared to be tall, olive skin, with spiky ruffled black hair, and wore a blazer with a white V-neck and jeans.

"Am I in Narnia?" The man's American accent came out from his mouth and took a step back. Clara glimpsed as a portal closed behind him.

"INTRUDER!" Strax shouted. "Halt in the name of the glorious Sontaran Empire! HYAAAAAAAAAH!"

"STRAX, NO!" Vastra yelled, trying to stop the small Sontaran from coming to blows with the newly-arrived guest.

* * *

"Wait Strax! Stop!" Clara protested as the new guest was trying to remove Strax from his head while destroying the hallway.

"Imbecile! You shall be obliterated!" Strax was piggybacking on the man while punching his head. He blinded the man finally, who hit a door and dazed at her and the others. He gave a toothy grin to Clara and mumbled "You're really pretty." before Strax gave him the knockout kick down the basement.

"You idiot!" Vastra angrily stormed upon the Sontaran. _Well, what can I say? _Clara shrugged as she remembered what the Doctor told her about Strax a long time ago:

"Clone warrior race, mass produced by millions just bred for war only. Just think of iPods, but really walking Terminators. Strax is unique on the other hand. He's a medic. In fact, the only medic in the Sontaran fighting force because his batch humiliated themselves in suicide bombing some Daleks a long time ago before I met you and he remained as the sole survivor."

* * *

"Who and what was all that just happened now?" Jenny piped up. "I dunno." Clara said as her, Vastra, Jenny, and Strax inspected the unconscious man at the bottom of the basement stairs. "Looks very cute sleeping."

"Clara, this man may be a threat." Vastra halted her from moving down.

"He looked confused earlier." Clara replied. "And judging by his clothing, he looks like he comes from my time."

"The future?" Vastra asked. "Yes. May I go down and check? Maybe he has some identification we can know about him." Clara asks.

"I will let you. But we will have to interrogate him first. Strax, bring me the chair, and Jenny, grab some rope, will you darling?" She orders to the other two. "Clara, you will be my assistant interrogator. You and the Doctor showing up on my doorstep and an American man from your time period is something, coincidental." She purred at the last word as they walked down the basement. "And before Strax knocked the wind out of him, he looked very attracted to you judging by his last words."

Clara blushed. No one really told her she was _cute,_ aside from her friends complimenting and the bullies that would try to hit on her when she was young. But a man that she doesn't know? _At least he said it straight in front of me, _she wondered. She hated when suitors talked to her in private, especially her co-worker at Coal Hill School, Danny Pink. What Clara really felt dragged down was her relationship with the Doctor before he regenerated. He was the perfect type for her, mysterious, very clever and remarkable. He didn't return his feelings for her, but saw her as a very close friend. "I fancied someone else." Clara said firmly.

_Was it really time to move on?_

"Oh, what a shame. It looks as though you and him could pair nicely together." Vastra said gloomly. "Now, if the man wakes up, give him the one-word test after Jenny and I record some information about him. We will be listening to the door. It works like this..." Vastra explained to her about how the interrogation worked.

After fifteen minutes of difficult shoving, fixing, and tying, Clara managed to keep the guest sitting on his chair, though she found it funny he fell his head back and his mouth hung open. _Just who are you?_

A couple seconds later the man's eyes blinked and coughed, pulling his head back to gravity. Vastra and Jenny stood next to her, armed with a jar containing a worm moving about and a spiked bat.

The man sluggishly looked up. Vastra spoke. "You are given three choices of interrogation. Either the easy way," She pointed to Clara, "The hard way," to Jenny, "Or my way." She pointed to the pet worm. The man eyed to Clara. "I'll take the hot chick in green, please." He spat out a bloody tooth to the side. Clara turned a bright shade of red._ What a dick. _

Vastra leaned in and whispered, "Remember, one word test."

"But what you told me earlier wasn't a plan!" Clara hissed back.

"You'll know. Just, adapt!" Vastra smiled as her and Jenny left the room. Clara groaned quietly and turned around to face the man. _Hope those Victorian plays I did in school were worth it.__  
_

She noted his appearance first and picked up a chair. "You should have picked the one with the worm." Clara said, entering her Victorian London persona. The man snorted. "No thanks, I prefer the easy way out than be leeched or beaten up for information." Clara stood up and walked around, studying him. "Alright then. Let's start things off. What is your name?

"Jake Summers." said Jake Summers.

"Sure, Jake." Clara pretended to look serious. "Real name?"

Jake sighed. "Jacob... Casey Luke Summers. You can check my wallet in my front pocket if you wish." He grinned. Clara went up to him and searched in his pockets. "Wrong pocket." He smiled, whispering in her ear when inspecting his jeans. "I can show you what I have in THAT one if you want at a later time, though." She turned red again and hastily searched his blazer for a big black lump that she found moments later. "Can you not make this situation any weirder?" She smirked as she looked through his wallet.

"So, you were telling the truth about your identity Mr. Summers. But nice of you to show you have five grand of pounds here. Oh, what's this?" She picked up a photo. "You own a mansion?" She asked quizzically looking at a photo of him next to a beach house.

"Beach front property would be a more fitting term." Jake said. "Listen ma'am, can we move on from the damn description? You got what you know about me. Unless this isn't some MI6 interrogation, then I must be in the wrong room of a boarding house then."

Clara looked up and stared at Jake. _Boarding house? You really don't know where you're actually are._ "So Jake, what brought you to a sitting room?"

Jake grew irritated. Clara gritted her teeth. _Damn it Clara, interrogate, not converse!_ He looked up to where the door opened from and yelled, "Listen, ladies? Can I get one of you with the freak worm to sort out this interrogation already? Ms. Clever here keeps a bad job of keeping a Victorian identity if it weren't for 'weirder.'" _  
_

Clara got furious when he mimiced the last word as the door opened and Vastra stepped in "Oi! I was just getting acquainted with him Vastra." She whined to the lady in black. "Hush Clara, at least we know his identity. Let me do the talking and we'll be done in no time." Clara looked at Jake one last time (who winked at her) grumpily and walked up and out of the interrogation room before closing the door behind her. "I didn't even get to try the one-word test." She said, sniffing away.

"WHAT ONE-WORD TEST?!" Jake roared, attempting to swing his chair.

* * *

"So how did it go?" Jenny asked, preparing some tea while Clara sat next to the Doctor. "Terrible. I'm so bad at talking to boys." Clara rubbed her forehead from the stress. "Oh, take your time. He does look very handsome. I found it difficult to talk to Vastra until I settled in properly, and then when we got married, it suddenly feels it's like talking to a mate." She smiled and brought a cup to a very shocked Clara. "Wot is it?"

"You and Vastra... are married?" Clara said in awe. "Yeah! Two months ago." Jenny wiggled her ring finger. "Strax was there, though, he nearly shot the pastor."

"But it's 1897." Clara remarked.

"Well the pastor was drunk at the time." Jenny laughed and Clara as well. "I wished there was a way that we can all come with you. Vastra would always tell me stories about the Doctor and the adventures they had before they found me."

"I went on an adventure with the Doctor once." Strax said as he monitored the Doctor on his scanner.

"Yeah, and there's a reason why you only went once." Clara snorted and Jenny laughed. Strax growled. "Well that put me out of my happy hour."

"What do you think will happen when the Doctor wakes up?" Jenny looked over, preparing tea next to Clara. "I don't know," Clara twiddled around with his curly gray hair. "I don't even know who the Doctor is anymore."

"He's a man full of secrets. Finding out one of them can threaten the entire universe itself." Strax said quietly. "It's best not to know. It's what makes his enemies fear him."

Clara turned to Jenny. "So what have you and Vastra been doing so far Jenny?" She asks. "Oh, we run a private investigations office here in Paternoster. We get a lot of customers that keep talking about the paranormal all the time, it's thrilling!" Jenny said excitedly. "Ghosts, aliens, you name it! When the Doctor dropped Vastra here he gave her a bunch of all this... _technology_, things that I know shouldn't even exist! It's what we use to solve our cases. Rumor has it that one of the clients is a young Sherlock Holmes," She sneered at the name. "An actual one to tell you the truth. Says that we had been stealing his cases from Scotland Yard."

Vastra calls up from the basement. "Jenny! Hand me the knife to release our new friend here. Strax, get a suit you've previously discarded from size issues down ready. Clara how is the Doctor?"

"Nothing here!" Clara calls out as the other two individuals stepped up and attended their duties.

_So Jake is friendly, _Clara thought. _He better be while he's around the Doctor._


	4. Chapter 3

_Author's note updated 7/13/14_

_-After a week of angrily punching my old computer because it would overheat and delete the content I wrote for about four hours, I decided to transfer my work on a laptop. Also, since the new Doctor Who trailer came out today, and those of you who saw that there was once a chapter 4, I made a heavy re-edit on this chapter to show the Doctor's personality following his introduction here. Not sure if I captured the whole dark and fierce type, I leave that to you readers. Enjoy! And leave a favorite/review, it's what keeps the story going._

* * *

Jake was having a bit of difficulty fixing a cravat underneath the black waistcoat after he took a bath. He also found it hard to believe that he time traveled to late 19th century London. Whatever that Humpty Dumpty gave him was slightly shrunk, so he gave up and let the shirt and blue tie loose with the brown trench coat. The black jeans were thankfully loose so he still kept his boots. He stepped downstairs and fixed his untidy spiked hair and glasses in the hallway mirror.

"What a dashing build!" The reptile woman popped out of nowhere. "You will fit in nicely." She fixes the tie and shirt. "Forgive me for the interrogation earlier, we had to make sure you posed no threat."

Jake looked solemn. "Yeah, an American from 2014 that winds up in 1897 with no idea what just happened."

"Well at least, since we _are_ being hospitable, let us go into the sitting area, I'll introduce you to everyone else while we attend to another guest."

Vastra reminded Jake of Aunt Grace back in his time. _Must be worried sick_. They entered the room and found everyone sitting around, conversing before they looked up. "Everyone," Vastra announced, "I am happy to announce that our newest guest this evening, this is Jake Summers. Jake, this is my wife Jenny, Strax my butler, and another guest, who is also a friend of the Doctor and from your time, Miss Clara Oswald." She points out to each individual. Jake shook hands with Jenny ("You're married? That's cool!" Jake spoke in awe), received a growl from Strax, and when his eyes met on Clara, he kissed her hand, which found her very surprised. "Sorry about the interrogation." He whispered as he sat next to her, who still was red-cheeked. "It took a while for me to settle in with time travel. But I'm happy to say that I am thankful for your hospitality." He firmly told everyone. "Who's Grandpa in the bed?" He looked over to the man sleeping behind them. He had curled grey hair, and looked slightly tired from the bit of wrinkles.

"We will start with him later. If it is too much to ask, Jake, would you like to tell something about yourself?" Vastra asked. Strax looked up and slowly made his way to a stool. "Any last words?" He sneered before receiving a blow behind the head from Vastra.

Jake thanked Jenny who gave him a cup of tea. "Well, I don't know where to begin. I've recently graduated from university, in World History. I plan on becoming a teacher. I went to visit my Aunt Grace before all this happened, she runs a house for international students staying in England. Is this dragonfruit?" Jake sniffed. Jenny nodded. "I found it quite interestin' that someone like you would like to become an educator. Why a history teacher?"

"The Doctor."

Everyone looked thunderstruck, Clara spluttering in her teacup. "Because of him?" Jenny asked, looking alarmed. "Is this inspiration?" Vastra added in. "You're a teacher?!" Clara asked.

Jake nodded. "In a way, yes, that is why I chose to become one. I hack technology back where I come from, and I found a lot of interesting files that world governments tried to hide. It was only on one man. Him." He pointed next to the sleeping man whose hand was held by Clara. Again, everyone was stunned. "Bu-but how did you... Remarkable deductive skills!... Alien himself!... That is amazing!" Everyone muttered. "You knew the Doctor was him?" Vastra asked.

"Two things Vastra, I knew you were going to go into a heavy speech about him later once I was done talking about me, and second, Clara held his hand the entire time when we walked in and you introduced me." Jake snorted. "I don't know what he is, and judging by most of you, Jenny and Miss Clara here are the only humans about, myself included."

"My dear Jake, we're, universally speaking, alien." Vastra said, trying to maintain order. "I am a Silurian, and before the time of man we ruled, in a civilization much like yours. Strax here on the other hand is a Sontaran, a clone purely dedicated to war much like his clone species. I sense something unique in you Jake, though I can't quite seem to get my grip on what."

Clara suddenly shifted one leg over the other in her dress and stared at Jake. "Mysterious is one of them." She blinked, and Jake smiled at her when he turned around, studying her. "Well aren't you vague? More like an enigma." He patted her hand and left it placed on top hers. "I'm not that easy to be courted, Casey." She sniggered, leaving her tea next to the Doctor's table. "Don't ever, say that again in public." He laughed. "So where is the Doctor from anyway? Lots of documents label him as 'time traveler' and the sketches of him show him having a different face."

Vastra sat at her fullest. "The Doctor is a Time Lord, Jake. He comes from the planet Gallifrey, the oldest civilization in the universe." She waved her hand and as the room went dark, a holographic projection revealed an orange planet. "He calls himself the Doctor for unspecified reasons, but it is how every being in the galaxy knows of him. The title meant a lot to both his friends and foes, and over the course of time beginning saved the universe countless of times. Of course, with victory comes loss." The holographs show a number of faces, mostly humans. "These individuals were before Miss Clara, companions of the Doctor who assisted him and have also been recorded in history for aiding him to helping save the universe. Most of who and what you see are former, most dead, some choosing to leave when the time came." The projections then moved on to faces of men. "Sometimes with loss, a new Doctor has to step in. I can assure you Jake, the men and the one next to Clara are the same. You, just happened to arrive at a very early time. Time Lords have the ability to, in case of a dire situation if they are injured, heal themselves, but the price is discarding their current form to a more younger state, this is called regeneration. This is entirely a physical change, but in some situations, can lead to a more mental change. Think of it as someone from a coma waking up with memories of centuries long ago."

"So you're telling me, the Doctor has just recently regenerated." Jake said, looking over by the fire. "Well is a perk of being a Time Lord immortality?" He asked. Vastra straightens herself. "Eventually we all have to die. The Doctor before his current form as you see him was on his last life of his cycle. Time Lords live up to thirteen regenerations, twelve lives. The Doctor though as Miss Clara told me before you arrived, has been granted a new cycle."

"Shouldn't he be like, awake?" Jake seemed confused. "The Doctor is resting from post-regeneration. He has a new set of Time Lord DNA that has to settle him in first." Strax stepped forward and was checking his pulse until-

* * *

WHAM! A enclosed hand shot straight out of bed and knocked Strax out of his senses. Everyone quickly got up and Jake pulled Clara back. The Doctor pulled himself out of bed, and shooed the assistance from Vastra and Jenny. He sat up and rubbed his eyes before he looked up. "That tea, was a punch to my jimmies." He yawned in a gruff, Scottish voice. "Though I detect it must be from dragonfruit, which was better the last time I woke up from regeneration coma. Oh, hello!" He seemed to forgot greetings. Clara immediately broke off from Jake and slowly went up to the Doctor. "Doctor?" She asked. "Well Clara, if you plan on standing there earlier with Marius," He nodded to Jake, "I'd pretend to ignore you. Just kiddin' sweetheart, come here." He squeezed her in a joyful hug. "It is you!" Clara said happily and teary-eyed. "Well what d'you expect? I told you earlier, I didn't swap bodies with anyone. Still me." He wriggled his hand and snickered. "Vastra, Jenny! Come here darlings." He group hugged the other two. "Well well well, aren't you so full of energy right now Doctor? " Vastra smiled slyly to the Doctor. "I can tell you, I haven't felt this better since I saw Adipose invading the moon of Kastarkus Prime and turning it into their own home planet. That can be turned into a sit-com." He winked. "Now, first thing's first. Where's Strax?"

"Right here s-sir." Strax mumbled as he got up. "Oh Strax, my favorite Potatohead out of my others!" The Doctor helped the Sontaran up. "Tell me, did you blow up the moon yet?"

"I am reverse-engineering carrots to provide the last component of my planet bomb, sir." Strax rubbed his head. "Atta boy." He turned around and faced Clara who behind her, stood Jake. The Doctor immediately walked over to him and Jake stood toe to toe with the man he had desperately been waiting to see. "And who in the Raxacoricofallapatorian, are you?" The Doctor growled at Jake.

"Isn't that the question anyone else has been dying to ask you, _Doctor?_ Everyone in the universe? Doctor who?" Jake didn't look amused. "Jake Summers, American trapped in time, 2014, following paranormal activity since the Sycorax showed up."

"The Doctor, Time Lord, always on the run, impressive." They shook hands. "I like him." He pointed to a grinning Clara. "He's got fire. An American from your time trapped in Victorian London? This is like walking up to a Catkind and asking him for directions to the nearest anomaly and getting him pissed." Clara seemed joyful at his opinion to Jake, but it faltered when the Doctor showed some rude behavior afterwards with his "joke."

"Now hold on for a mo'! Vastra, where is my beloved TARDIS?" The Doctor looked around the room. "Upstairs. The door on the left. I am presuming it is time for you to depart." She replied, looking a bit sad. "Well no, I need to change out of this nightgown first. And second, I have to repay my debt to you. What's been going on in London?" He looked over to the mirror. "Oh, someone give me an Adipose. I look ridiculous. Hair gray, the WRINKLES, though I appreciate the eyes." The Doctor inspected himself. "I'll get used to it. Be right back! Jake, come with me, I want to show you something. Clara, you as well."

Vastra looked seemed surprised. "Well for a start, we can note the Doctor is very lively." She said as she saw the three go off.

* * *

_I remember watching movies that had gangs. I should have gangs. Someone hand me an damn Adipose, _thought the Doctor as he went upstairs. The nimble legs he now had were very light, so the Doctor stepped between four steps on the stairs and hopped at the top. He arrived at the door and opened it to find the familiar neon blue lights appearing from the sights. Jake and Clara appeared behind him. "So this is your... time machine?" He asked as they both slowly stepped into the room. The blue police phone box stood next to the window ready and waiting to take off. "Now hold on a minute. How do you know some much about me?" The Doctor glared. "I hate it when someone's one step ahead of me."

"I'm not clever." Jake softly confessed. "I sorta guessed when Vastra said you were a Time Lord or whatever you are." He snickered. "But I do know you from some hacked files people gave me. The more, delusional people."

The Doctor looked around the box. "And what's that?" He asked, trying to find the key.

"That you've been saving the Earth a lot, as well as the universe." Jake shurgged. "Well partially true." The Doctor popped open the doors of his beloved time machine stepped in, Clara and Jake in tow. The control room was entirely dark, except for the time rotor glowing a brilliant-

"Orange?" The Doctor muttered. "Why is the console now glowing orange?" Clara asked next to Jake. "The TARDIS is afraid. She can recognize our DNA signatures, but since I'm in a new cycle she's on watch dog alert. See to it as more of an intruder. But with a little of this," The Doctor rubbed his hand at the console, and the TARDIS lit up to life. It was now low lit, but the array of lights around the console room gave it a majestic feel. They were everywhere, from the Gallifreyan symbols above the time rotor, to the smaller ones floating around the room flashing sections in a straight line.

The Doctor turned around to see a happy Clara and Jake clinging to a rail. "This... Is your time machine?!" He asked in amazement. "Well, spaceship added after that. Clara, take care of Jake here while I go off and find some new clothes." The Doctor said, in surprise as he trundled downstairs into the lower level of the control room and tossed out some clothes. _A wonder it is to have a huge wardrobe in a tiny cabinet._ Most companions were often scared when they step into the room that was "bigger on the inside" now that Jake said looking about the room, on the other hand he seemed to be a happy camper. He stepped out from the bottom level a couple minutes later, dressed in a white shirt and black pants before pulling a coat over. _Back to basics_.

* * *

-If you enjoy music from a series while reading fanfictions, Amy in the TARDIS plays from 1:10 if you search it up on YouTube-

* * *

"Jake, what Vastra said is true." The Doctor turned to the new guest. "Clara and I save the universe a lot, as well as others who have traveled before with me in the past. I'm seen as a hero to many people I've explored and helped, and the response that sends foes to hide behind their mothers. 'The good man,' is one of the titles I hear the most. Though, not all good men are good. The choices I had made were paid in sacrifices in return. Some dear to me. I live over two thousand years old. I've made many mistakes, and it's about time I did something about that."

They all sat on the stairs leading up to the upper balcony. "Clara, tell me. Am I a good man?" The Doctor asked, gazing to the hexagonal roundels.

She seemed surprised while fiddling with her fingernails. "I... don't know."

"You at least look like a good man. _'_For the greater good' was what my family always said when they came to a conflict with just two choices." Jake sniggered and they laughed. "You know what, Jake? We could use a man like you." He looked up and about the room. "We need a gang." He got up and helped Clara. "Why, the TARDIS seems boring with just her and I around?" She said jokingly.

"Oi!" The Doctor said, arms folded. "Not really. I could use some new faces though. Jake, would you like to come with Clara and I?" He asked. Jake didn't quite get the question. "Where? I thought we were helping Vastra with the-"

"No no, I mean with us. Travel across the universe and time, well, in line to any thing that will ever happen that is." The Doctor waved his hand around the now lively ship inside a police box. "Well, I could use some time off. I got bored after graduating from college... So, yes!" Jake said happily. The Doctor gave high-five and Clara hugged him. "Alright then! The Doctor is in! Oh wait, we need to attend to Vastra first. I have to repay a debt to her for keeping watch over me. Let's go, shall we gang?" He smiled to his now two companions. Clara looked at Jake and he looked back, grinning. Then it flashed right before the Doctor.

Instead of Clara and Jake that stood before him in the control room, a couple that the Doctor remembered eons ago were holding hands. A woman seven years younger than Clara smiled to a very young man that just hit his twenties. She had a beehive hairstyle, and looked extremely dirty as well as the man standing next to her.

_Susan? David? _The Doctor stepped back before he blinked. He rubbed his forehead and found that it was just Clara and Jake standing again.

"Doctor?" Clara asked coming by him.

"Nothing... It's nothing. Come on, let's go!" The Doctor fixed himself.

_Note, I need to pay a visit to Susan again. _

They left the TARDIS, and the Doctor quietly locked the doors before they entered the sitting room.

* * *

"So Vastra, this debt. What is it?" He asked. The sitting room had its furniture reset.

"A case that has dead ends everywhere. Nice outfit, by the way." Vastra smiled as the three sat down in front of her on the sofa. "Rumor has it that Jack the Ripper has returned following a new spree of murders two days ago before you showed up in my home. The bodies I found in autopsy however, were not his doing. Jenny however, noted when she walks home from buying groceries that men in top hats and scarves concealing their faces stalk the rooftops all over London. I find it preposterous, since I personally killed and devoured him." She said in a puzzled voice to a shocked Clara and Jake. "Oh dear me. Forgive what I said just now. Sometimes I get very quirky when there is... flesh about." She stood up and looked out of the window. "Another murder." She murmured, fitting on the veil. "Strax, Jenny, with me!"

Everyone ran outside. A crowd gathered around the plaza. The girl's body was slitted. "Oh my." The Doctor stepped forward and pulled out a wand-like device. "Well, pockets are bigger on the inside now?" He wondered and scanned the body with his sonic screwdriver and the edge of the circle surrounding it. "The killer... ran up." The Doctor consulted from the green orb inside the four claws. He looked up to see a man that matched perfectly what Vastra described earlier crawling up the bakery nearby. "You! Stop!" He pointed and aimed at the man, who fell back and landed on the pavement. He found that there is no body inside the clothes but glass. "Wait a moment..." The Doctor pulled out the hat, scarf and goggles. The glass case was shaped like a human's, though there was no organs inside clearly. There were just gears.

_Just. Gears._

"Parts," The head spoke in a recorded voice. "Parts..." It said slowly before the gears powering it stopped.

_The killers are Clockwork Droids._

* * *

**So there you have it! Sorry I kept you waiting.**

***For the Doctor's personality, I was thinking of a Doctor that was yes, fierce and dark, like how Moffat plans on revealing in Series 8. It's a great concept really, and I sorta added to the mix that the whole fierce and dark personality should be a demeanor that had inside an unsure, still young inside shell. He's now in a new cycle, the previous one is now moved on and like Jake, doesn't know what to do. So the Doctor will now step up his game and rectify it.**

**I'm aiming for the story to be FINISHED HOPEFULLY, by Friday the 18th. I'll see you the next time you hear the TARDIS materializes. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, and don't forget to leave a favorite/follow/review for the story! It helps keep the neutron flow going. **

**-ClockworkKnight (:**


	5. Chapter 4

Clara and Jake jogged to the Doctor. "What is it?" Clara asks, looking over.

"This is the killer that Vastra talked about earlier." The Doctor replied, turning over the head. "It's a Clockwork Droid, haven't seen these back when I was with Madame de Pompadour."

"You were with the wife of Louis the fifteenth?" an amazed Jake asks as he also looks at the head. "What's a Clockwork Droid?"

"Robots that harvest organic beings for parts to use. I encountered them on the SS Madame de Pompadour, a spaceship adrift in the Medusa Cascade with the crew all replaced for ship parts. Though... what brings them to Victorian London?" The Doctor got up. "We need to see Vastra right away. Come!" They jog back to Vastra's house nearby where she and a pair of policemen were corresponding to the news reporters. "Vastra!" The Doctor calls to her. "This is one of the killers Jenny was seeing, and the one trying to get away from the scene of the crime."

Vastra takes the head and inspects it. "This is one of them? Then we know who we are up against. Though there must be a master these droids serve to..." She says quietly and studies it more. "I need you three with me as of now."

She points to the Doctor, Clara, and Jake. "For what?" The Doctor asks. "To meet the prince, George the fifth." Vastra replies stiffly.

Clara and Jake's jaws dropped. "Since when was a prince corresponding to you?" The Doctor arches an eyebrow.

"Are you aware of the Torchwood Institute, Doctor?" Vastra smiled. The Doctor's mouth hung open.

"Regeneration, new companion, now Torchwood? They'll be the harbingers that make humanity the most feared species the universe."

"Ah. So you are aware of them."

"Do you get anything that Vastra's telling to the Doctor now?" Jake whispers to Clara's ear. "No. I thought I knew everything about him," she replies back, "this time, it's like I don't even know who the Doctor is anymore. It's weird. And do you always blow air in my ear while whispering to someone? It tickles." She giggled. "Just trying to be productive while we're being holed up in 19th century London." Jake winked, now holding her hand. Clara froze and felt her heart flutter.

"Oi, lovebirds!" The Doctor waved from a decorated carriage. "We're off to meet the prince in charge of the most forsaken alien monitoring organization on the planet!" Clara took Jake by the hand and dragged him along to the transport.

"So what is Torchwood?" Clara asks as they were driven down to Hyde Park. "Torchwood is-" Vastra began, but the Doctor interrupted her. "a group of insane people who are afraid of aliens and fight fire with fire, reverse-engineered alien tech."

"Well that, is an interesting way to describe them." Vastra sniffed and sat back in the carriage. "Yeah, I WAS the reason they were made." The Doctor pointed to himself and dusted off his dark blue coat. "A scuffle in Scotland with a werewolf and Queen Victoria herself to tell you the truth."

"Do you always get yourself involved with monarchs?" Jake piped up and looking extremely annoyed.

"Not really. Some of them are fascinated of the worlds outside Earth, although the majority want my head for scaring them with witchcraft." said a blunt Doctor. "So what does Georgie do for Torchwood?"

"Apparently, man the science department." A voice popped from the front of the carriage. "My dear grandmother thought for one last time I can boost my intelligence with science, but is that helping? Absolutely not." Vastra pulled up the curtain to reveal the driver smiling at them from his bicycle mustache and beard. "No way!" Jake said excitedly.

"Well I'll be damned." The Doctor remarks.

"George Albert. Duke of York, and Grand Master of the Torchwood Institute." He formally introduces himself. "If it were not for Vastra and her detective work down in Paternoster, London would be a pile of rubble by the time you showed up, Doctor."

The carriage stops at Hyde Park Corner in front of the Wellington Arch. George opens the door and everyone steps out. "Why disguise yourself to the townsfolk?" Clara asks.

"Torchwood is private. The military can wear their outfits but the science department works in lines similar to Madame Vastra. We have to keep a low profile." George said quickly as he opens a gated door at one of the arches and the other four walked in.

After a couple of steps down, the Doctor and others arrived at a long hallway where a man sat at the other end talking on what appears to be a phonograph. "Captain!" George calls out to him. He turns around to reveal a dashing face, with extremely white teeth and flat hair combed to the side.

The Doctor face palms himself. "Someone hand me a damn Adipose!" He angrily head bangs a wall.

The man at the table seemed surprised. "What, Doctor, you haven't seen me in a while?" He asks in an American accent. Clara and Jake stopped walking. "Er... everyone, Doctor, this is Captain Jack Harkness one of our top operatives from Cardiff, Torchwood Three." The man steps forward and salutes. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Jack, this is Madame Vastra, Clara Oswald, Jake Summers, and of course you know the Doctor." George snickered.

"I HATE salutes!" The Doctor angrily continues his head banging.

"Oh don't be such a cow, Doctor! You left me in 200,100 and I had to find my own way home after you left with Rose." Jack comes up to him and gives him a hug. "Get your hands off." The Doctor barked.

"You've regenerated, haven't you? Love the Scottish accent. Which number is this?"

"Thirteen." The Doctor muttered quietly.

"Saucy minx. You somehow managed to live beyond an average Time Lord's cycle."

"Sorry, can we get back on track here and follow with George down the lift?" Clara lets out a fake cough. "We need to find out whose behind the killings all over London." George stood inside with Vastra and Jake already and shrugged. The Doctor grabbed Jack by his duster and went in with Clara. "We'll talk back in the TARDIS." The Doctor told her as they went down.

"You've been keeping secrets." She folds her arms.

"Yeah, and I told you and Jake earlier that I'd make up mistakes. Him, being one of them." He points to Jack, who winked at Clara.

"Captain Jack Harkness, and who are you?" He pulls out a hand and kisses Clara's hand.

"For the love of Clom!" The Doctor waved the introductions away. "His Grace here made the introductions already. Jake, do something about it."

Jake squeezed Clara's shoulder and shoots a look at Jack. The lift stops in a wide hall that is filled with numerous amounts of activity. Papers were flying everywhere as men and women in lab coats were running around answering telephones and recording words on notepads and noting the slight shake that the giant reactor in the middle of the room was giving off. "Welcome to Torchwood One," George sighs. "defending humanity and expanding our influence for the glory of the British Empire."

"Our motto: If it's alien, it's ours." Jack said quietly and opens the lift doors.

"What is the giant tube you have in center of the room?" The Doctor asks, studying the reactor.

"One of our many surge needles placed in each burrough of London. They all connect back to the Rift in Cardiff, which is being monitored under my team." Jack replies in a proud voice at the last two words.

"And the Rift is?..." Jake looks to the Doctor and Jack.

"A tear in the fabric of reality." The Doctor muttered. "Anything can happen from the Rift, so think of..."

"Me being stranded in this time setting?" Jake asks sarcastically.

"What a brilliant observation!" The Doctor replies back in the same manner. "Wait a moment. If the Clockwork Droids are behind the attacks recently Vastra, then I can pinpoint the location that this one's head here," He snatches the droid head from Vastra's belt and sonics it. The giant map of London and the surrounding burroughs on one wall had light bulbs over each of them and tiny lights within a specific location, and one light was blinking frantically. "There you have it. 10 Downing Street." The Doctor grinned.

"Downing Street is the spot that has been causing a lot of trouble since the murders have began." George looks at the map when the group got closer to the wall. "Prostitution and crime rose up after a fire took down buildings 13 and 11, so the Prime Minister moved to Saint James's Park and handling city affairs in an apartment. I've wasted most of my agents that the military division granted me when I joined, and I can't spare to lose Jack as he is my last."

"Well then let me pop in from my ship and let my... gang and I handle Jack the Ripper, if he's returned." The Doctor faced George. The response he got after wasn't pleasant. George had a sword drawn and Jack had his pistol out.

"You heard Jack, Doctor. If it's alien, it's ours." He warned the Doctor. The Duke of York and his fellow associate were pointing their weapons to the other four. "I recalled a tale my dear grandmother Victoria told to me, about a trip to her late consort's manor called the Torchwood House where a man came out of a blue box and saved her from a terrible fate. She saw the box disappear after banishing him and his companion, although ultimately regretted not taking the box for it contained witchcraft that must be contain-"

Jack knocked him unconscious and quietly stuffed something down the Prince's throat.

"What have you done?!" bursted the Doctor in bewilderment.

"Knocked him out, and gave him a memory wipe pill that has my DNA imprinted so he'll forget about me. No one here cares if you fall asleep, they're busy trying to cover up the murders" Jack said in a glad tone.

"Do you realized you have knocked out the grandson of the Queen herself?" Vastra asked surprisingly impressed.

"Lady, I'm a Time Agent. I was supposed to be waiting for a pick up by him." Jack glares at the Doctor, who was still appalled by what Jack had just done. "I'll hide the body in a closet nearby, and now that we know who's behind the murders, this is a one shot chance to making it back to the TARDIS before anyone finds out we've disappeared." Jack looks over to the crowd of scientist nearby studying the map. He carries an unconscious George over to an elaborate desk which possibly looks to be his in the corner of the room and hisses to the other four. "Go!"

The Doctor snapped out of his stun. "You heard him. Go! One psycopath per TARDIS." He muttered the last sentence under his breath. The four of them quickly in pursuit depart the base from the lift and find themselves outside to see the Doctor's TARDIS on a wagon with Jenny and Strax in the driver's seat.

"Marm!" Jenny rushes into Vastra's arms. "The things... Those robots, they took out the soldiers guarding our place before Strax and I booked it on out wit' the Doctor's ship."

"Wait, how'd you lift my ship onto a wagon?" The Doctor asks quizically to Jenny, who took back in surprise. "It was... surprisingly light?" Jenny said nervously.

"Oh, she must have probably ejected a whole number of rooms then." The Doctor said unhappily.

Strax pointed out to two shady men with scarves and top hats coming out of the park. "Intruders incoming! Sontar... HA!" He pulls out a strange heavy object shaped as a grenade launcher and fires two beams of energy at the droids who revealed in their arms, blades. They bursted into glass shards before more Clockwork Droids started popping out.

"Quickly, climb into the TARDIS." The Doctor urged to the crowd in front of him. "Ooh, I already have a gang. I like gangs." He cheerfully looked at them.

Hearing the droids echo about parts again was all that was needed to push one by one each person inti his ship.

"Wait! What about the mule?" Jake popped his head out from the TARDIS.

"FOR THE LOVE OF-" The Doctor roared and sonics the the mule's harness off. It quickly trots off. "It knows its way back," Jenny told Jake inside the TARDIS. "Thanks by the way, that was our last only capable horse to buy since Strax vaporized the others from a breeder we know."

"The previous ones were unobedient!" Strax protested.

"Quiet you two!" Vastra silenced them. "Well Doctor, I see you have made the room a bit smaller, the last time we took a trip inside your ship." She says, looking around the numerous lights flickering in the console room as the Doctor slides across the panels and starts making the preparations needed for departure. "Let's see if I can get this right this time, Clara." He winked to his companion next to him who grinned wickedly.

He pulls down the door release lever and the TARDIS doors close shut. "Got that part right." He said smoothly. "Now... The navigational panel has been set to this date and time which is swell, memory's still jogging along on TARDIS piloting for dummies. Just have to input 10 Downing Street and... Boom! Onwards and upwards!" The Doctor triumphantly was going to pull down the throttle to start before the doors shook.

"Wait, what happened to my plan?" A familiar voice spoke outside and the Doctor face palms himself. "Go home Jack."

"You're not going to leave me here are you?" Jack pouts on the view screen. The TARDIS doors open. "Wait, why side with him?!" The Doctor angrily yells to the console. "She likes me." Jack winked and kicks back on a chair next to the console and the doors close and the throttle is pulled down.

The occupants flung to whatever they could as the TARDIS violently shot sparks to the destination set by the Doctor. The Doctor re-emerged and worked feverishly at the controls. "You can do this darling, trust in me." He mutters while everyone clung onto their dear life.

Jake had one hand glued to a rail before Jack's foot accidentally stomped on it, releasing Jake to slide down to the TARDIS doors which flew open to the dusk London skyline below.

"JAKE!" Clara reaches her hand out to him nearby. Jake luckily managed to hold on to the edge of the doors and tried to swing his way to Clara. "Clara! I can't!" He yells back frantically and watches as his eyeglasses slip away and down below.

"Trust me." was all that she says in the blurred vision. She lowers herself slowly down the rail and reaches out to his hand. The TARDIS heaved the door Jake held onto to Clara's hand and helps him climb back up inside the console room before it righted itself back to normal gravity and closed the doors. The TARDIS stopped for a moment before another shook and wheezing noise meant that it was landing.

The Doctor climbed back up with everyone else as the steam vents were turning on. "We've reached 10 Downing Street on the second floor. Let's see if the TARDIS can help out with equipping you lot." He taps a drawer on the console and out pops the fabrication dispenser. "Here, Jake and Clara, take these." He hands them each a sonic screwdriver. "Vastra, Jenny, and Strax, I don't know about what my TARDIS made for you, but you pick."

Jenny picks up a gauntlet. Strax takes out a weird-looking three lens eyepiece. Lastly, Vastra picks up a small hairpin which, when she touched the end, grew into a sword.

"Fantastic." said Jenny.

"I can read vital signs and see the thermal sensors of what each individual is feeling!" surprised Strax.

"How can we ever thank you for this, Doctor?" amazed Vastra.

"You don't have to." He said quietly to his friend. "Ready gang?" The Doctor checks everyone. Jack pulls out something from the drawer. "I think you forgot to give me something." He said slyly and fits on a pair of knuckles. The Doctor swore quietly.

"Since when we were we now a gang?" Jake wondered.

"Well, since Vastra has her own, I got Clara and now you, so what happens when we have both combined?" The Doctor readies his screwdriver and the TARDIS doors open into an abandoned room of the Prime Minister's office.

"Now. Time to finally meet Jack the Ripper."

* * *

**hey all, thought i'd wanted to make up for lost time by fleshing out a chapter to get this story moving quickly. i corrected in my last message previous chapter that i'm hoping by friday to have this story done and not take so long on the chapters. i'm kinda feeling comfy right now with my laptop so the next chapter (probably the second to last) will be done on Wednesday. i hope you enjoyed this chapter, and i'll appreciate the reviews/favorites/comments/follows, it's what reverses the polarity of the neutron flow.**

**-ClockworkKnight**


	6. Chapter 5

The Doctor and his gang stepped out of the TARDIS and into an empty room that the spiders now live on. The furniture was covered up, the bookcases were empty, and the light of the moon started to shine down from a boarded window.

"Wait, Doctor, I can't see." Jake muttered in his blurred vision. "My glasses fell off on our bumpy ride here.

"Strax, handle him." The Doctor replied.

Strax tended over to him and used his sonic lorgnette. "Cornea is curved. Brace yourself boy." A slight ping pops a needle out and Strax jabs it into Jake's eye while covering his mouth that would later scream. "Easy lad, can you see? This device is a miracle." Jake's vision fixed itself and saw the familiar domed Sontaran medic. "My eyes were just sweaty."

"Everyone be on the alert for anything." The Doctor said quickly with his sonic screwdriver drawn. The group huddled around and moved in a rotating circle. Noises rebounded from the outside to the walls, and Strax quickly tripped from what appeared to be a broken off piece of a chair leg.

"Watch yourself for heaven's sake Strax." Vastra warned as she looked down a hallway with her sword on guard.

They crept closer to a room that was glowing inside. A gust of wind blew the boarded windows open and brushed through the group before it calmed down again. The Doctor gulped and aimed it to the doorknob, which clicked and slightly creaked the door open.

"I'm detecting a huge amount of activity, sir." Strax looked through his sonic lorgnette's lens. "The droids appear to be conversing with a superior. I suggest, the Doctor goes in first with Miss Clara and Master Jake, and we'll be outside for backup." He says while peering through his red colored glass.

"Strax, that was without a doubt, a good plan, but I'm going to need all you." The Doctor muttered as he looked at his tiny green orb. "Together, or not at all."

"All for one and one for all?" Jake grinned as he played around with his sonic screwdriver. He was starting to enjoy the Victorian design, and would often get his finger zapped at the reactor-like core near the diode that sparked with energy.

"That's the spirit Jake." The Doctor smiled. "Ready?"

Everyone nodded.

* * *

-The Majestic Tale (of a Madman with a Box) plays as the following scene is in slow-motion for a couple seconds, I think you'll know when it stops. (:-

* * *

The Doctor kicked the door down with incredible force that it flew out and destroyed the unluckiest droid that stood in front of its path. Everyone charged in and aimed their sonic devices to the droids attending their workstations and a loud sonic cry broke the glass paneled windows following the signal to sonic them to shut down mode.

"Shut down every droid you see!" The Doctor ordered in the chaos that went on. Vastra went up against a droid that had its blades drawn from underneath the sleeves and after one slice down its torso blew the head up into the ceiling as the rest of the body fell into a pile. Strax pulled out his big rifle and charged at two manning a console with Jack immediately roundhouse kicking one off and smashing its head to a wall from the knuckles, which emitted a sonic shockwave blast.

"SONTAR-HA!" He cried and instead of blowing the droids, he blew up the area leaving charred marks everywhere. Jenny shot a blast from her gauntlet that disabled a rushing droid with blades springing out at her to a droid that fell and slide its way to her feet. Jake and Clara swept around in a circle and fired their sonics at the consoles which sent the droids in charge flying.

"Alright then!" The Doctor panted, putting his screwdriver away. "Scan the consoles for anything - records, history, anything they've done the past week."

Clara went up to one station and scans it. She immediately drops her violet and copper-covered screwdriver to the ground and covers her mouth. The rest of them come up to her and see a console exploded from blood. "Oh my god..." Jake said quietly, shocked by the actions done. He immediately consoles Clara as she hugs him and not look at what's in front of her.

"The Clockwork Droids use human parts as replacements..." The Doctor slumped to a chair and rubbed his wrinkled face. A remains of an arm was used a lever, now fingers are exploded off. A brain used for radar was fried to black dust.

"At last, the mouse has fallen into the trap." A posh voice murmured as a doorway from a brick wall opens. A man dressed exactly like how the droids disguise themselves steps forward. A major difference was that the figure resembled more a man being converted to the droid. One of his legs were fully cybernetic, and half of his left arm was partially finished. The scary feature was that one side of his face was nothing but a shell that needed covering from the strips of metal.

The Doctor stood up at his fullest and faced the man. "Identify yourself." The Doctor growled.

"Doctor, you can't possibly not know that the person you are facing is the one that the city of London forgot was in charge of the murders a couple years back?"

"Doctor, it's Jack... The Ripper, Jack." Vastra steps forward. "But... I remembered I devoured you whole!" She snarled.

"My twin brother John was the one you ate, and an insane bloke to sacrifice himself." The Ripper corrected her. "But your other friend there, Harkness, he cornered me and in revenge for killing his lover, a policeman that I had to get past while escaping, set up the corner with explosives. I was woken up days later to find myself converted like the droids here, but they told me I was to be their engine."

"Engine for what?!" Harkness shouted.

"Engine to bring darkness." Ripper told him and the brick wall draws back to reveal a small Tyrannosaurus Rex inactive.

Everyone in the room besides Jack the Ripper stepped back in shock. Clara buries her head in Jake's chest. "_On the Origin of Species_ was an interesting book to read in my recovery. A struggle for survival ensues, something of which I believe strongly. The battle in light and darkness. Your time is not over, Doctor. The masters have told me so much about you from the cracks."

"What cracks?" Vastra asked.

"The cracks in space and time." The Doctor said, struggling to remember the memory he had to face when he first met Amelia Pond so many years ago when he crash-landed in Leadworth following a regeneration before his current life. "The Time Lords, remember Clara?" The Doctor turned to Clara.

Clara looks around. "They tried to come back." She spoke quietly, trying not to stare at the hundred handed figure.

"So how'd you managed to bring a baby T-Rex through a crack?" Harkness asks.

"The cracks are rifts... Which is why Torchwood managed to capture a giant one here in England and use it to location alien activity." The Doctor said, trying to piece everything together. "The Rift here however, has been on the flux because of the killings you have been causing with your puppet droids!" He yelled in anger to the Ripper.

"I am not the mastermind myself, the real masters are still in the cracks you have caused from the Time War, Doctor. The droids came from the cracks ready to serve my orders, and to fuel my monstrosity down to rip London to shreds!" The Ripper exclaimed, his voice turning into a robotic tone. "I WILL HAVE VENGEANCE, DOCTOR! WITH YOU AS MY FINAL PIECE, THE BRAIN, MY PET WILL LET THE WHOLE WORLD WILL KNOW-" Jack the Ripper raises his mechanical arm and a ball of fire erupts from the nozzle.

A flash of light seared from the wall behind him. A familiar jagged line returned and opened wide.

"N-n-no!" Jack the Ripper cries out. "What, what is it my masters! I have done no wrong!"

"**YOU HAVE DIS-O-BEY-ED OUR OR-DERS!**" A high-pitched electronic voice echoes from beyond the crack.

_No._

_No, no no, no NO!_ The Doctor steps back in surprise and knelt in tears.

"I haven't! I swear!" Jack kneels in front of the crack.

_That voice..._

_"Three-fold man..."_

_"TRUE SOUL REVEALED!"_

_"Doctor WHO?"_

_Caan._

"**THE DOC-TOR IS NOT READY FOR WHAT IS TO COME.**" Two square lights flickered from the other side.

"But he provides the final piece!" Jack begged on his knees.

"**YOU HAVE FAILED IN YOUR TASK, HUMAN!**" Dalek Caan's voice rumbled through the room. A single beam fired on Jack the Ripper and sent him to oblivion. The room began to suck in towards the crack and everyone ran for cover. The Tyrannosaurus Rex, which slowly stood up and awake roared.

"DOCTOR LOOK OUT!" Jake dives and yanks the Doctor from the dinosaur's path.

"Sonic weapons drawn out!" Vastra yells in as the room is being slowly sucked in. The sonic diodes in the devices pop out, and Jake quickly tosses the Doctor's sonic screwdriver to Jack Harkness. "A single sonic burst can knock out this dinosaur senseless and back into the rift!"

"**THE TIME AGENT IS AN A-NOM-A-LY! EX-TER-MIN-ATE!**" A Dalek voice screeched and fires another shot. Jack Harkness cries out and limps to a side, dead.

"NO!" Clara cries out.

That is when the Doctor snaps out of the breakdown. He grips Clara's shoulder and catches his sonic screwdriver before it tumbles off as well as holding on to Jack's body.

_Am I afraid?_

_No._

"FIRE!" The Doctor bellowed, and a sonic pulse resonates, pushing the T-Rex into submission and into the portal.

"**AL-ERT! A TIME AGENT HAS BEEN SPOTTED! EX-TER-MIN-ATE!**" Another Dalek echoed. A shot almost hits Clara and Jake. Jake in return, angrily turns his sonic up into maximum.

"LEAVE. US. ALONE!" He fires a blue shot to the portal, and everyone saw an explosion happen inside. New voices enters the fray.

* * *

"**LIFE RETURNS.**"

"**LIFE PREVAILS**."

"**I SEE INTO YOUR SOUL, DOCTOR. I SEE... BEAUTY.**" A shriveled man with a blue crystal on his forehead blurs past in the Doctor's mind.

_D-Davros?_

"**DIV-IN-ITY.**"

_Caan._

"**HA-TREEEEEEEED!**"

_The Supreme?_

* * *

"No indeed Clara." The Doctor defiantly stands up. "AGAIN! FIRE!"

Another sonic burst slowly begins to close the crack.

"**YOU CAN'T HIDE YOUR PEOPLE FOREVER DOCTOR! I WILL WAIT UNTIL HELL BURNS THE COSMOS!**" Davros's voice fades off before the room is restored to its original state.

The Doctor's hand holding the sonic screwdriver trembled. "It's... It's done." The Doctor mumbled.

Everyone slowly gets up, shaken. "Who... Who was that?" asked a spooked Jenny.

The Doctor slowly turns to her. "One of the most feared enemies in the universe." Strax said quietly. He pulls out his lorgnette and scans everyone. "Looks like we could use some brandy, marm." He looks to Vastra.

"Maybe some brandy is all that we need." She muttered. "Come, everyone."

Jack Harkness gasps, startling everyone. After a couple breaths, he looked up. "Is... Is it over?"

The Doctor helped him up.

"A flame has been ignited." He muttered.

* * *

At the Rose and Crown Inn, Mack Hillbright the innkeeper was sweeping the steps outside the entrance. The moonlit sky was calm, quiet, and peaceful. Just the way he liked it.

He looked down to see a small gathering coming towards him.

"'Ello! Care for some refreshments? We're on happy hour before closing time! Oh, hello Madame Vastra." Mack greeted the veiled woman at the head of the group. "My Lord, your company has seen somethin' 'orrible! Quickly, I'll have my personal parlor set up. Come in come in!" He cheerfully lets the still-shocked group enter the inn.

* * *

"You have some explaining to do." Clara broke the silence, looking to the Doctor while everyone else quietly sipped glasses. The Doctor was standing at a corner, gazing at the moon.

"You want some explaining?" The Doctor said slowly. "I'll give you an explanation. Jack the Ripper was back, and that was all a ruse to get me killed so he can harvest my brain for some cooked up experiment in which a small Tyrannosaurus Rex that was going terrorize London. We found out about his damn plan about him being supported by the most FEARED beings in the galaxy that I thought I destroyed a long time ago. Above all, I am DAMN afraid, Clara Oswald. I thought things would be over after Trenzalore. Guess not. That is my explanation." He yelled in front of her face. Her wide eyes slowly twitched, and tears swelled down her face before she ran out of the room. Jake quickly ran after her.

"There's still a number of cases that have sprung from what has happened." Jack muttered. "One of them being Jake as a Time Agent."

The Doctor looked at him. "What's wrong with that? Isn't the organization still green lit for more active service?"

"No. There's been a silent striker taking out operatives one by one. I can't remember Jake being an Agent before, must have been from the amnesia pills." Jack swung a glass of whiskey.

The Doctor looked into the fire.

_Gallifrey. It all points down to Gallifrey. That crack was just another message of me freeing them, when the time's right._

* * *

"Clara!" Jake grabbed her hand at the balcony. She burst into tears. "I-I'm sorry. Truly, Jake. About this, the Doctor, about you winding up here-"

"It's fine." Jake said solemnly, calming her with a smile. "Listen, I've been having a swell time. Like a Michael Bay film done right. But I think the outburst was the last straw. The Doctor's just regenerated, and has been having a rough night. We all did. I sure as hell remember the Daleks during their invasion in 2009, looking at the cracks in the mirror. And if I were you, the last thing I'd do would be giving an outburst to why the Doctor kept his secrets. You remember back in the TARDIS before Hyde Park?" He asks, holding her hand. "A good man is still a good man."

"For the greater good." Clara said, drying up tears.

"Damn fucking sure for the greater good." Jake Summers giggled, and so did Clara as they burst into laughter. "What the Doctor told you was all that he could tell you. It was either come up with some bullshit lie, because eventually, whatever in his past is coming back."

They gazed up at the moon for a while in silence. "The stars look bright tonight." Jake said in wonder.

"You should see one up close." Clara said quietly, her head rested on Jake's shoulder as the cool night swept the city in a slow blanket. "In space, one day."

Jake looked at her. "I think I've found one already."

Clara slowly lifts her head up to him and both gaze into each other's eyes. They lean in, and kiss softly once, before kissing full again. After a couple more seconds, Jake and Clara pull back.

"That was... nice." Clara said, turning bright red.

"...Yeah." Jake said in surprise.

"Can we-"

"We'll just-"

"Home." They agreed one word. They laughed again, and Jake Summers took Clara Oswald by the hand and led her back into the parlor.

* * *

The Doctor sat in front of the fireplace staring into the beautiful flames dancing in the embers. A couple creaks of steps and Clara and Jake returned.

"Doctor... I'm sorry. About my outburst earlier." Clara murmured while the flames flickered. The Doctor looked up at her like a child going to apologize. Clara laughed. "You can stop acting like a child Doctor!" She giggled happily and sat next to him in the sofa.

"It's not that. It's what I'll have to go up against now." The Doctor said quietly into the fire. "The Daleks aren't all dead, the damn creator of them talking to me, something's shouldn't best be left forgotten."

"Maybe some time thinking will do?" Jake stepped forward, shrugging helplessly. Vastra and her gang skidded out of their stools and faced the Doctor.

"It's probably best for all of us. Doctor, I thank you, and to your companions for the help and courage in saving London from a possible major attack. I'll repay my debt to you the next time the TARDIS lands on my doorstep." She said, with a bow.

"You can keep those devices," The Doctor said and turned to her. "The TARDIS doesn't like givebacks."

Vastra nodded, and the three left. Strax gave Jake a punch and did a bit of a bow to Clara, while Jenny and Vastra hugged both. It was only Jack Harkness that still remained in the room.

The Doctor turned to address him. "You want me to say something to you?"

"Well I was thinking that the next question was going to be asking me to join you... Unless you don't want to..." Jack pouted, looking like a lost puppy.

The Doctor glanced at Clara and Jake, who shrugged.

"Five minutes. The innkeeper told me the TARDIS is waiting for us out in his back yard. I'll drop off Clara and Jake first." The Doctor said quietly and he left the room.

* * *

The TARDIS appeared in the inn back yard with its midnight blue wood finish and tinted glass windows that reflected the neon light glow from the signs. Jake and Clara stepped out, and walking around they found the doors wide open, with the Doctor finishing up the controls over the ride home.

"Oh, hello!" He said quickly, as the two companions entered. "I uh... finished setting the coordinates. Shall we?" He pulls the door release lever that closes the doors shut, and pulling down the throttle, the TARDIS quietly rumbles and dematerializes.

* * *

A small _thoomp_ signaled that the TARDIS landed. The doors creaked open to Jake and Clara, dressed back in their regular clothes, to their proper time.

"Thanks, Doctor." Clara said quietly, nodding. Jake pulls out his hand and shakes with the Doctor's. "It was a fun day, Doctor. Can't wait to see you again for the next time you land." He murmured as they left the TARDIS.

Jake quickly told Clara he needed a breather since they landed in daylight so he took to a bench and slowly took some breaths. Clara's phone rang.

"Hello?" Clara answered, standing at a corner.

A static voice answered back. "Clara."

"Sorry, I'm getting a bad signal." She said, covering her other ear.

"Clara?" A familiar voice replied back.

_It was him._

_Her Doctor._

"Doctor?" She asks in surprise.

* * *

-INFINITE POTENTIAL PLAYS-

* * *

"**Clara. I'm sorry, but this is a message, not a conversation. First things first, I'm calling you from inside the TARDIS, after that whopper of a Dalek ship blew up on Trenzalore before you come back inside looking for me.**

**Second, the man that you see in my shoes now is still me. Trust me. Always has been, always will been me. The funny thing about regeneration... It's what appearance you want to be for the next life. I don't like it. Because I won't be able to see you again under the new face. It's still me, though to other people they won't know me. Like your friend Jake over there, he's a good lad. It'll take time for him to get used to traveling in the TARDIS and with, well. me.**

**Since you joined along with me in traveling across space and time, you were my 'Impossible Girl.' The only mystery worth solving. I soon realized before our scuffle with the Zygons, that you were with me in every of my lives, helping me and ensuring that my timeline stays proper from the Great Intelligence. You were everything I ever wanted. Brave, clever, adaptable. I loved you. And I noted the advances you tried to pull at me, though I rebuffed them. Love is a dangerous emotion that I toyed with other companions, Clara Oswald. It costs me some friends in the past their lives. It was why I repressed love to you, not passionately and in romance, but in friendship. I loved you as my best friend. Know that.**

**Now, the man who stands before you earlier that calls himself the Doctor, he's going to be different. I have a new cycle granted by the Time Lords before they left, and the next in line is going to be afraid. He's going to be afraid of what will shape him. Of what he'll become. Clara, I urge you, to not leave him. For once he steps out, you go look at him in the eye and notice, they're still the same eyes. The Doctor in there is still me, but he's going to need a friend to look up to for help. Help him. I guess it's now my time to say, 'run you clever girl, and remember me.' You have to put me aside now, Clara. You've got Jake now. Move on. But remember me. This is now, where we part ways, Clara Oswald. Geronimo.**"

* * *

"Was that the Doctor?" A man stepped out from the TARDIS asked nervously. He was tall, with small, curled gray hair and wrinkled. He wore a white shirt with black pants and matching boots underneath, and sported a dark blue coat. Jake got up and was amazed that the Doctor had not left.

"Doctor?" Jake said in surprise. The Doctor gave a small smile and wriggled his hand in greeting. "Hello, Jake Summers."

Clara Oswald looked at him from the corner and slowly made her way to him. She looked at him in the eyes, and saw deep within the faded green that made him looked like a hawk, was that they were the same eyes the last man who called himself the Doctor had.

"Doctor, it is you, isn't it!" She jumped and hugged him. The Doctor just crouches to reach the same level of height in surprise. "I got a call from the TARDIS. It was from him." He said quietly.

They sat down at Jake's bench. Clara told Jake the story of her phone call.

The Doctor proceeded to tell him of his call. "He told me, that someone was going to be afraid of me. I knew from the beginning, things weren't going to go off the bad easy." He began, sounding like he was giving a father-daughter pep talk.

"Maybe... A talk was all that's needed." slowly said Clara, bringing up the conversation to a full circle.

"So... we're all cool now?" Jake asked. The Doctor and Clara looked at each other and then at Jake, and the two laughed.

"Yeah... Jake, we're 'cool.'" The Doctor said, quote unquote with his fingers.

Jake looked around. "What's the date and time?"

The Doctor quickly runs back into the TARDIS and immediately steps out.

"It's December 25, 2013, five minutes before you left, Clara."

"Doctor, this doesn't look like London." Jake said in surprise. "Thought this was Oxford Street. Where exactly are we?"

The Doctor frantically runs back inside and checks the site.

"Glasgow." He smiled in his Scottish accent.

* * *

**NEXT TIME:**

**Episode 2 - Eyes in Smoke  
**

**The Doctor, Clara Oswald, hitchhiker Captain Jack Harkness, and newcomer Jake Summers kick off their first adventure in space and time... in Dalek territory. With the TARDIS drained of energy after crashing into a prototype Dalek saucer capable of both space-time travel, it's a race against time to save the TARDIS and prevent the Daleks from accomplishing their goal of conquering the universe.  
**

**Captain Carter of the _Teselecta _is widely known for his espionage and capturing war criminals across the galaxy. Recently, 'cracks' have begun appearing across many sectors belonging to the Shadow Proclamation, and the probes all point down to one source: The New Dalek Paradigm. With no record on what this new order is, the _Teselecta _is hounded up again for one final mission with Carter before he goes into retirement behind enemy lines... as a Dalek. Stumbling across an old friend, the Doctor and Carter team up to find out what the New Paradigm wants now.  
**

**In the shadow of both factions, there is a more sinister secret that is being carried out, not belonging to the Paradigm. As this newcomer comes to play, the whole fabric of reality will have to brace itself as Davros returns and more secrets are revealed. **

* * *

_So there you have it! A first episode to a series that's different but connected on my take. This final, chapter took about a whopping 8 hours to complete (It's midnight here in Los Angeles, on July 16 as I finished this). First of all, thank you to the views I've been getting on the story, as much as though I wanted some reviews going (well, shoutout to Ms. Estella Black for representing the fans probably that LIKE the story) I wasn't expecting a huge turnout of over 300 that were actually interested. Thank you!_

_Second, this is in NO WAY what the first episode of Series 8 called Deep Breath will be like. I didn't find any leaked scripts online (I FOOKIN SWEAR TO ME MUM), and no copyright intended to the sonic devices Vastra, Jenny and Strax will use in Deep Breath, it's used to promote. Like I said it's an alternate universe, so think of two parallel lines, one is still the same and straight line (the MAIN DW universe) and one that has a bit of wibbly wobbly timey wimey that still ends up on the same last page (mine, my universe). The AU is what branches off a whole new timeline that doesn't harm the main one. The main reason it's an alternate is cause of the cracks the Time Lords keep making, so that means a rupture in the space-time reality continuum. Hence, fandoms._

_Third, I hope you enjoyed the story. If you loved what happens and would like to see more, I REAAAAAAALLLY appreciate the reviews, and any favorites and follows on the story. I'll keep writing, but some feedback will be nice. It is what reverses the jelly baby of the neutron flow._

_ROCK ON DOCTOR WHO!_

_P.S. I also hoped, maybe I captured what the Doctor will be like following Eleven's cameo. Leave something in the reviews about it, if whether or not it worked._

_-_ClockworkKnight (:


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